‘Life can capsize you at any time’: singer Emma Swift on her rise, breakdown and return to music
Her Bob Dylan covers earned her acclaim, with fans including Elvis Costello and Bernie Taupin – then she disappeared. Five years later the Australian singer is back with her first original album
Back in late 2020, in the darkest, pre-vaccine period of the pandemic, Australian singer-songwriter Emma Swift was riding the crest of an unexpected wave from her kitchen table in Nashville, Tennessee.
Her self-released debut album of Bob Dylan covers, Blonde on the Tracks, was an indie hit, breaking into the top 10 in Australia and appearing on multiple end-of-year lists worldwide. Elvis Costello and Bernie Taupin (Elton John’s lyricist) were among her many notable admirers, as was legendary rock critic and noted Dylanologist Greil Marcus – who famously opened a review of Dylan’s contentious 1970 album Self Portrait with the words: “What is this shit?” His review of Swift’s album, for the LA Review of Books, was considerably kinder.